Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ Saves the Box Office

After a series of increasingly dire weeks at the box office, ‘Oz the Great and Powerful‘ arrived and shook things up in a major way, earning the first truly massive opening weekend of 2013 and setting the table for all kinds of Oz-related content in the near future. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is something that we’ll let you judge.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Oz the Great and Powerful

$80,278,000

$20,521

$80,278,000

2

Jack the Giant Slayer

$10,020,000 (-63.2)

$2,843

$43,811,000

3

Identity Thief

$6,319,000 (-34.9)

$2,105

$116,530,000

4

Dead Man Down

$5,350,000

$2,445

$5,350,000

5

Snitch

$5,100,000 (-34.3)

$2,179

$31,855,000

6

21 and Over

$5,056,000 (-42.2)

$1,825

$16,840,000

7

Safe Haven

$3,800,000 (-39.5)

$1,495

$62,884,000

8

Silver Linings Playbook

$3,745,000 (-34.6)

$2,169

$120,749,000

9

Escape From Planet Earth

$3,207,000 (-51.6)

$1,258

$47,832,000

10

The Last Exorcism Part II

$3,120,000 (-59.6)

$1,156

$12,083,000

Despite wildly divisive reviews, audiences seemed ready for a return trip to the land of Oz, made famous by the original ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and revisited by numerous other movies since then. The success of ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ is hugely reminiscent of Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ which made over a billion dollars for Disney by reviving a long-dormant fantasy world (although even ‘Oz’s greatest detractors will admit that it’s still better than Burton’s turgid take on Wonderland). As always, the second weekend is going to be extremely important here since it’ll showcase whether or not audiences actually like the film, but right now, it’s looking like a much-needed hit for director Sam Raimi.

In any case, that $80 million opening weekend sure feels like a slap in the face to Bryan Singer’s ‘Jack the Giant Slayer,’ proving that audiences do want epic fantasy in March, just not that film. ’Jack the Giant Slayer’ fell to the second spot with a $10 million weekend and a $43 million gross. Yep, it’s a bomb.

Meanwhile, ‘Identity Thief‘ is finally starting to lose steam in the third place, but it’s only losing steam after making $116 million at the box office. It could get pulled from every theater in the world tomorrow and everyone would still be happy. That’s a lot of money for a modestly budgeted comedy.

In fourth place, ‘Dead Man Down‘ opened with a dismal $5.3 million, a bad sign for anyone still hoping for Noomi Rapace and Colin Farrell to become box office draws. The fact that it looked generic as all get-out in those trailers surely didn’t help.

‘Snitch‘ clung to the fifth spot and took in another $5 million. With $31 million in the bank, it’s not a hit, but it also wasn’t too expensive. There won’t be any bonuses with this one, but everyone will probably keep trucking. That can’t be said for ’21 and Over’ in the sixth spot, which failed to pick up any kind of traction at all.

In seventh place, ‘Safe Haven‘ looks like it’s less than a week away from outgrossing ‘A Good Day to Die Hard.’ That is all.

As it has been for the past few weeks, the real success story in the top ten continues to be ‘Silver Linings Playbook,’ which took its first major drop in quite some time but still crossed the $120 million mark, making it a financial blockbuster, a critical smash and a major award winner. Good on you, ‘Silver Linings Playbook.’

‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone’ and ‘The Call’ open next week, but our money is on ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ reclaiming that top spot.

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